An Explanation by K A Applegate
by ArtemisHarryAnimorphsfan96
Summary: This is K. A. Applegates's official response to the criticism she recieved for Animorphs #54, and why she ended it the way she did. I own nothing; I just wanted to see what you guys had to say about it. DON'T READ UNLESS YOU'VE READ THE ENTIRE SERIES!


**A/N: ** Okay, so I just finished reading every single Animorphs book (all of which I own), a project that has taken me four years to complete. I also reread the surprising conclusion, book #54: The Beginning. By the way, did you know that K. A. Applegate had planned on doing a guide to Animorphs, a fifth megamorphs (that explains the incorrect number of megamorphs in her note to the fans at the end of book #54), and a _Where Are They Now _type of book, but there were problems with the contracts and timing, so she and Scholastic cut them? Rip off, right? I would at least like to know what they were about. Wouldn't you?

So, anyway, I've been super depressed while reading it, especially after finishing it this morning. I searched Google to see what other fans has to say about it, and I found this. This is the official response from K. A. Applegate to the criticism of book #54. I think it's a bit harsh, but it did explain a bit; I still would have written the last book entirely differently if I owned the rights to Animorphs, which, sadly, I don't. To add to this disclaimer, I own NONE of the following at all. I just thought that this would benefit a lot of heartbroken fans on this site. Plus, I would love to hear some of the comments you guys have.

**IF YOU HAVE NOT FINISHED THE SERIES, DO NOT READ THIS! THERE ARE INTENSE SPOILERS!**

Well, anyway, I've kept you from it long enough. Here it is. Please review to leave your thoughts on this letter and your opinion as to whether or not the sake of accuracy to war justifies killing Rachel, putting Jake and Tobias into depressions, breaking up Jake and Cassie, giving us a cliffhanger ending where it's implied that Marco, Jake, Tobias, and maybe even Ax die, and basically screwing up our beloved characters' lives.

**Dear Animorphs Readers: **

Quite a number of people seem to be annoyed by the final chapter in the Animorphs story. There are a lot of complaints that I let Rachel die. That I let Visser Three/One live. That Cassie and Jake broke up. That Tobias seems to have been reduced to unexpressed grief. That there was no grand, final fight-to-end-all-fights. That there was no happy celebration. And everyone is mad about the cliffhanger ending.

So I thought I'd respond.

Animorphs was always a war story. Wars don't end happily. Not ever. Often relationships that were central during war, dissolve during peace. Some people who were brave and fearless in war are unable to handle peace, feel disconnected and confused. Other times people in war make the move to peace very easily. Always people die in wars. And always people are left shattered by the loss of loved ones.

That's what happens, so that's what I wrote. Jake and Cassie were in love during the war, and end up going their seperate ways afterward. Jake, who was so brave and capable during the war is adrift during the peace. Marco and Ax, on the other hand, move easily past the war and even manage to use their experience to good effect. Rachel dies, and Tobias will never get over it. That doesn't by any means cover everything that happens in a war, but it's a start.

Here's what doesn't happen in war: there are no wondrous, climactic battles that leave the good guys standing tall and the bad guys lying in the dirt. Life isn't a World Wrestling Federation Smackdown. Even the people who win a war, who survive and come out the other side with the conviction that they have done something brave and necessary, don't do a lot of celebrating. There's very little chanting of 'we're number one' among people who've personally experienced war.

I'm just a writer, and my main goal was always to entertain. But I've never let Animorphs turn into just another painless video game version of war, and I wasn't going to do it at the end. I've spent 60 books telling a strange, fanciful war story, sometimes very seriously, sometimes more tongue-in-cheek. I've written a lot of action and a lot of humor and a lot of sheer nonsense. But I have also, again and again, challenged readers to think about what they were reading. To think about the right and wrong, not just the who-beat-who. And to tell you the truth I'm a little shocked that so many readers seemed to believe I'd wrap it all up with a lot of high-fiving and backslapping. Wars very often end, sad to say, just as ours did: with a nearly seamless transition to another war.

So, you don't like the way our little fictional war came out? You don't like Rachel dead and Tobias shattered and Jake guilt-ridden? You don't like that one war simply led to another? Fine. Pretty soon you'll all be of voting age, and of draft age. So when someone proposes a war, remember that even the most necessary wars, even the rare wars where the lines of good and evil are clear and clean, end with a lot of people dead, a lot of people crippled, and a lot of orphans, widows and grieving parents.

If you're mad at me because that's what you have to take away from Animorphs, too bad. I couldn't have written it any other way and remained true to the respect I have always felt for Animorphs readers.

K.A. Applegate


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